JavaProcessing Image Pixels, Creating Visible Watermarks in Java

Processing Image Pixels, Creating Visible Watermarks in Java

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Java Programming Notes # 418


Preface

Digital watermarking

Paraphrasing
Wikipedia
, digital watermarking is a technique that allows an
individual to add copyright notices or other verification messages to digital
audio, video, or image signals and documents.  Digital watermarks may be
visible, hidden, or a combination of the two. 

Visible watermarks

This lesson will deal with visible watermarks, as shown in
the bottom image of
Figure 1.


Figure 1  Visible
Watermarks.

The bottom image in Figure 1 is a modified version of the original image
shown at the top.  The bottom image was modified to contain five different
kinds of visible watermarks in the four corners and at the center of the image.

A program to add visible watermarks

In this lesson, I will present and explain a program named ImgMod36,
which was used to produce the images shown in Figure 1
You will learn how to write a Java program that can be used to add five
different types of visible watermarks to an image.

Hidden watermarks

A future lesson will deal with
hidden watermarks similar to those shown in the center image of the right panel
of Figure 2.

Figure 2  Hidden Watermarks.

Briefly, the images in the left panel of Figure 2 show an original image at
the top and a replica of the original image at the bottom with no hidden
watermarks having been added.  The images in the right panel of
Figure 2
also show the original image at the top and a replica of the original image at the
bottom. However, in this case, three watermarks been hidden in the
frequency-domain representation of the image shown by the middle image.

Viewing tip

You may find it useful to open another copy of this lesson in a
separate browser window.  That will make it easier for you to
scroll back
and forth among the different listings and figures while you are
reading
about them.

Supplementary material

I recommend that you also study the other lessons in my extensive
collection of online Java tutorials.  You will find those lessons
published
at Gamelan.com
However, as of the date of this writing, Gamelan doesn’t maintain a
consolidated index of my Java tutorial lessons, and sometimes they are
difficult to locate there.  You will find a consolidated index at www.DickBaldwin.com.

I also recommend that you pay particular attention to the lessons listed in
the References section of this document.

Preview

The program named ImgMod36

There are many different ways to add watermarks to an image.  The
purpose of this program is to illustrate the creation of five different types of
visible watermarks as shown in the bottom image of
Figure 1:

  1. A high intensity watermark in a single color plane (red, top left
    corner)
    .
  2. A watermark that is the same color as the original image pixels but
    with twice the intensity (top right corner).
  3. A watermark that is the same color as the original image pixels but with
    only half the intensity (center).
  4. A watermark for which the alpha (transparency) values of the pixels
    are
    half of the original values (bottom left corner).
  5. A high intensity white watermark (bottom right corner).

Driven by ImgMod04a

This program is designed to be driven by the image processing framework
program named
ImgMod04a.  The framework program was developed and explained in the
earlier lesson entitled
Processing Image Pixels, An Improved
Image-Processing Framework in Java
.

Operation

To run this program, enter the following at the command
line.

java ImgMod04a ImgMod36 ImageFileName

where ImageFileName is the name of a .gif or .jpg file, including the
extension.

A single display frame

Replot button
The frame also contains a Replot button.  However,
because this program does not allow the user to enter parameters to modify the
behavior of the program at runtime, clicking the Replot button has little
or no effect.

The program displays a single frame on the screen as shown in
Figure 1.  The frame contains the
original image at the top and a replica of the original image with five
watermarks added at the bottom.

An output JPEG file

Each time the program is run, or the Replot button is
clicked, the bottom image containing the watermarks is written into a JPEG
file named junk.jpg.  For example, Figure 3
shows a screen capture of the contents of the output JPEG file produced
for Figure 1.


Figure 3  Output 
JPEG File.

If a file having name junk.jpg already exists in the current
directory, it is overwritten.

The processImg method

In order for a class to be compatible with the framework program named
ImgMod04a
, the class must implement the interface named ImgIntfc04a
The interface named ImgIntfc04a declares a method named processImg
Therefore, the class named ImgMod36 must define an image processing
method named processImg.

The image processing method
named processImg is executed by the program named ImgMod04a upon
startup, and each time thereafter that the user clicks the Replot button
at the top of Figure 1.

In this program, the method
named processImg modifies the image pixels in five selected locations in
the original image to add the
watermarks described above and shown in Figure 1.  Then it returns the modified image, which is displayed
by the program named ImgMod04a.

Class files required

This program requires access to the following
class files plus some inner classes that are defined inside the following
classes:

  • ImgIntfc04a.class
  • ImgMod04a.class
  • ImgMod36.class

The source code for the first two classes was provided in the earlier lesson
entitled Processing Image Pixels, An Improved Image-Processing Framework
in Java
.  The source code for the third class is provided in
Listing 13.

Program testing

The program was tested using J2SE 5.0 and
WinXP.

Discussion
and Sample Code

Will explain in fragments

As is my normal practice, I will explain this program in fragments.  You
can view a complete listing of the class named ImgMod36 in Listing 13
near the end of the lesson.

Basically, this class consists of the method named processImg, a
method named addWatermark, and several utility methods that are used to
perform common operations on the color planes that represent the image in a 3D
array of type double.

The processImg method

The class named ImgMod36 and the method named processImg begin
in Listing 1.

class ImgMod36 implements ImgIntfc04a{
  public double[][][] processImg(double[][][] threeDPix){
    
    int imgRows = threeDPix.length;
    int imgCols = threeDPix[0].length;

    //Make a working copy of the 3D pixel array to avoid
    // making permanent changes to the original image data.
    double[][][] workingCopy = copy3DArray(threeDPix);
    
    //Declare a working plane.
    double[][] workingPlane;

Listing 1

Understanding the ImgMod04a class

It will be very helpful if you understand the image processing framework
program named ImgMod04a before attempting to understand this program. 
You will find an explanation of ImgMod04a in the earlier lesson entitled
Processing Image Pixels, An Improved Image-Processing Framework in Java.

Processing the image

Regardless of whether or not you already understand ImgMod04a, the method
named processImg receives an image formatted into a 3D array of type
double
and returns a modified image in a 3D array of type double.

Four image planes

The 3D array describes four image planes consisting of an alpha or
transparency
plane, a red plane, a green plane, and a blue
plane in that order.  All of the necessary conversions between type
unsigned byte
, which is the standard format for image pixel data, and
type double are handled by the class named ImgMod04a.  Thus,
the method named processImg has only to contend with data of type
double
.

Straightforward code
The code in the method named copy3DArray is
straightforward and shouldn’t require an explanation.  You can view the
method in its entirety in Listing 13.

The code in Listing 1 begins by finding the dimensions in pixels of the image
planes.  Then it invokes the method named copy3DArray to make a
working copy of the 3D pixel array to avoid making permanent changes to the
original image data.

A working 2D plane

Finally, the code in Listing 1 declares a 2D array of type double that
will be used as a working plane.  This plane is used to avoid making
individual working copies of each of the four image planes and reduces the
memory requirements for processing large images.

Extract and process the alpha plane

The code in Listing 2:

  • Invokes the extractPlane method to extract the alpha plane from
    the 3D working array into the 2D working plane.
  • Invokes the addWatermark method to add watermarks to the working
    plane, passing the working plane and the identification of the alpha plane,
    0, to the addWatermark method.
  • Invokes the insertPlane method to insert the modified working
    plane back into the 3D working array, replacing the alpha plane previously
    stored there.
    //Extract and process the alpha plane.
    workingPlane = extractPlane(workingCopy,0);

    //Add the watermarks.
    addWatermark(workingPlane,0);

    //Insert the alpha plane back into the working array.
    insertPlane(workingCopy,workingPlane,0);

Listing 2

The extractPlane method and the insertPlane method are
straightforward and shouldn’t require an explanation.  You can view those
methods in their entirety in Listing 13.

The addWatermark method

The addWatermark method is at the heart of this lesson. 
Therefore, I will set the discussion of the processImg method aside long
enough to explain the addWatermark method.

The addWatermark method begins in Listing 3.  The purpose of this method is to add
visible watermarks to a 2D array of pixel data of type double.  There are many ways to modify the pixel data to add watermarks.  This method illustrates
five of those ways.

  void addWatermark(double[][] plane,int color){
    int imgRows = plane.length;
    int imgCols = plane[0].length;

Listing 3

The incoming parameters

The addWatermark method receives two incoming parameters.  One
parameter is a reference to the 2D array of pixel data that is to be modified to add the
watermarks.

The other parameter is an int value that identifies the plane
according to the following key:

  • 0 – alpha plane
  • 1 – red plane
  • 2 – green plane
  • 3 – blue plane

The dimensions of the 2D image plane

The addWatermark code in Listing 3 determines the
dimensions of the image plane in pixels.

Create the watermark

As you can see from Figure 4, visible watermarks of
the types employed by this program tend to be very persistent, at least with
respect to the kinds of modifications that were applied to this image.

Not necessarily true for hidden watermarks

However, as you will learn in future lessons that discuss hidden watermarks,
achieving such persistence is much more difficult for hidden watermarks. 
In fact, sometimes the simple act of storing a watermarked image in a JPEG file
can cause the hidden watermark to be lost.  Other operations such as
scaling the image can be even more detrimental to hidden watermarks.

Run the Program

I encourage you to copy the code from Listing 13 into your text
editor, compile it, and execute it.  Experiment with it, making
changes, and observing the results of your changes.  See if you can come up
with some different and interesting ways to create visible watermarks by
manipulating the alpha value and the three color values of the pixels.

Summary

In this lesson, I presented and explained a program that can be used to add
five different types of visible watermarks to an image.

What’s Next?

Future lessons will explain how to add hidden watermarks to an image. 
As you will see in those lessons, that task is somewhat more difficult than
adding visible watermarks.

References

400
Processing Image Pixels using Java, Getting Started 
402
Processing Image Pixels using Java, Creating a Spotlight 
404
Processing Image Pixels Using Java: Controlling Contrast and Brightness
406
Processing Image Pixels, Color Intensity, Color Filtering, and Color Inversion

408
Processing Image Pixels, Performing Convolution on Images
410
Processing Image Pixels, Understanding Image Convolution in Java
412
Processing Image Pixels, Applying Image Convolution in Java, Part 1
414
Processing Image Pixels, Applying Image Convolution in Java, Part 2
416 Processing Image Pixels, An Improved Image-Processing Framework in Java

Complete Program Listing


A complete listing of the program discussed in this lesson is shown in
Listing
13
below.
 

/*File ImgMod36.java
Copyright 2006, R.G.Baldwin

There are many different ways to add watermarks to an 
image.  The purpose of this program is to illustrate the 
creation of five different types of visible watermarks:

1. A high intensity watermark in a single color 
   plane (red).
2. A watermark that is the same color as the original image
   pixels but twice as intense.
3. A watermark that is the same color as the original image
   pixels but with only half the intensity.
4. A watermark for which the alpha (transparency) value of
   the pixels is half of the original values.
5. A high intensity white watermark.

This program is designed to be driven by the image 
processing framework named ImgMod04a.  To run this 
program, enter the following at the command line.

java ImgMod04a ImgMod36 ImageFileName

where ImageFileName is the name of a .gif or .jpg file, 
including the extension.

The program displays a single frame on the screen.  The
frame contains the original image at the top and a replica 
of the original image with the watermarks added at the 
bottom.  The frame also contains a Replot button.
However, because the program does not allow the user to
enter parameters to modify the behavior of the program at
runtime, clicking the Replot button has little or no 
beneficial effect.

Each time that the program is run, or the Replot button
is clicked, the final image containing the watermarks is 
written into a JPEG file named junk.jpg.  If a file 
having that name already exists in the current directory, 
it is overwritten.

This program contains an image processing method named 
processImg, which is executed by the program named 
ImgMod04a.  The method named processImg modifies the image 
pixels in five selected locations to add the watermarks 
described above.  Then it returns the modified image, which
is displayed by the program named ImgMod04a.

This program requires access to the following class files 
plus some inner classes that are defined inside the
following classes:

ImgIntfc04a.class
ImgMod04a.class
ImgMod36.class

Tested using J2SE 5.0 and WinXP.
**********************************************************/

class ImgMod36 implements ImgIntfc04a{
  
  //This method is required by ImgIntfc04a.  It is called
  // at the beginning of the run and each time thereafter
  // that the user clicks the Replot button on the Frame
  // containing the images.  However, because this program
  // doesn't provide for user input, pressing the Replot
  // button is of no value.  It just displays the same
  // images again.
  public double[][][] processImg(double[][][] threeDPix){
    
    int imgRows = threeDPix.length;
    int imgCols = threeDPix[0].length;

    //Make a working copy of the 3D pixel array to avoid
    // making permanent changes to the original image data.
    double[][][] workingCopy = copy3DArray(threeDPix);
    
    //Declare a working plane.
    double[][] workingPlane;
    
    //Extract and process the alpha plane.
    workingPlane = extractPlane(workingCopy,0);
    addWatermark(workingPlane,0);
    //Insert the alpha plane back into the working array.
    insertPlane(workingCopy,workingPlane,0);

    //Extract and process the red color plane.
    workingPlane = extractPlane(workingCopy,1);
    addWatermark(workingPlane,1);
    insertPlane(workingCopy,workingPlane,1);

    //Extract and process the green color plane.
    workingPlane = extractPlane(workingCopy,2);
    addWatermark(workingPlane,2);
    insertPlane(workingCopy,workingPlane,2);

    //Extract and process the blue color plane.
    workingPlane = extractPlane(workingCopy,3);
    addWatermark(workingPlane,3);
    insertPlane(workingCopy,workingPlane,3);
    
    //The alpha plane and all three color planes have now
    // been processed.  The results are stored in the
    // working copy of the original pixel array.
    return workingCopy;

  }//end processImg method
  //-----------------------------------------------------//

  //The purpose of this method is to extract a color plane
  // from the double version of an image and to return it
  // as a 2D array of type double.
  public double[][] extractPlane(
                              double[][][] threeDPixDouble,
                              int plane){
    
    int numImgRows = threeDPixDouble.length;
    int numImgCols = threeDPixDouble[0].length;
    
    //Create an empty output array of the same
    // size as a single plane in the incoming array of
    // pixels.
    double[][] output =new double[numImgRows][numImgCols];

    //Copy the values from the specified plane to the
    // double array.
    for(int row = 0;row < numImgRows;row++){
      for(int col = 0;col < numImgCols;col++){
        output[row][col] =
                          threeDPixDouble[row][col][plane];
      }//end loop on col
    }//end loop on row
    return output;
  }//end extractPlane
  //-----------------------------------------------------//

  //The purpose of this method is to insert a double 2D
  // plane into the double 3D array that represents an
  // image.
  public void insertPlane(double[][][] threeDPixDouble,
                          double[][] colorPlane,
                          int plane){
    
    int numImgRows = threeDPixDouble.length;
    int numImgCols = threeDPixDouble[0].length;
    
    //Copy the values from the incoming color plane to the
    // specified plane in the 3D array.
    for(int row = 0;row < numImgRows;row++){
      for(int col = 0;col < numImgCols;col++){
        threeDPixDouble[row][col][plane] = 
                                      colorPlane[row][col];
      }//end loop on col
    }//end loop on row
  }//end insertPlane
  //-----------------------------------------------------//

  //This method copies a double version of a 3D pixel array
  // to an new pixel array of type double.
  double[][][] copy3DArray(double[][][] threeDPix){
    int imgRows = threeDPix.length;
    int imgCols = threeDPix[0].length;
    
    double[][][] new3D = new double[imgRows][imgCols][4];
    for(int row = 0;row < imgRows;row++){
      for(int col = 0;col < imgCols;col++){
        new3D[row][col][0] = threeDPix[row][col][0];
        new3D[row][col][1] = threeDPix[row][col][1];
        new3D[row][col][2] = threeDPix[row][col][2];
        new3D[row][col][3] = threeDPix[row][col][3];
      }//end inner loop
    }//end outer loop
    return new3D;
  }//end copy3DArray
  //-----------------------------------------------------//

  //The purpose of this method is to add watermarks to
  // a 2D array of pixel data. There are many ways to
  // modify the pixel data to add watermarks.  This
  // method illustrates five of those ways.
  void addWatermark(double[][] plane,int color){
    int imgRows = plane.length;
    int imgCols = plane[0].length;
    
    //Create an array containing the basic watermark. The
    // watermark consists of the characters H2O described
    // by values of 1 and 0.
    int[][] watermark = new int[][]{
      {1,1,0,0,0,1,1, 0, 0,1,1,1,1,1,0, 0, 0,0,1,1,1,0,0},
      {1,1,0,0,0,1,1, 0, 1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 0, 0,1,1,1,1,1,0},
      {1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 0, 1,0,0,0,0,1,1, 0, 1,1,0,0,0,1,1},
      {1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 0, 0,0,1,1,1,1,0, 0, 1,1,0,0,0,1,1},
      {1,1,0,0,0,1,1, 0, 0,1,1,1,1,0,0, 0, 1,1,0,0,0,1,1},
      {1,1,0,0,0,1,1, 0, 1,1,0,0,0,0,0, 0, 1,1,0,0,0,1,1},
      {1,1,0,0,0,1,1, 0, 1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 0, 0,1,1,1,1,1,0},
      {1,1,0,0,0,1,1, 0, 1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 0, 0,0,1,1,1,0,0},
    };//end array
    
    int wmRows = watermark.length;
    int wmCols = watermark[0].length;
  
    for(int row = 0;row < wmRows;row++){
      for(int col = 0;col < wmCols;col++){
        if(watermark[row][col] == 1){//Ignore 0 values.
          
          //Place a high intensity watermark only in the
          // red color plane of the image.  Place it in the
          // upper left.
          if(color == 1){//Modify red plane only.
            plane[row+10][col+10] = 255.0;
          }//end if
          
          //Place a watermark in the upper right area. 
          // Make the color of the watermark be the
          // same as the color of the image but twice as
          // intense.
          if(color != 0){//Don't modify the alpha plane.
            plane[row+10][imgCols-wmCols-10+col] =
                  plane[row+10][imgCols-wmCols-10+col]*2.0;
            plane[row+10][imgCols-wmCols-10+col] = 
               clamp(plane[row+10][imgCols-wmCols-10+col]);
          }//end if
         
          //Place a watermark in the center of the image. 
          // Make the intensity of each color to be half of
          // the original intensity.
          if(color != 0){//Don't modify alpha plane.
            plane[imgRows-(imgRows/2+wmRows/2)+ row]
                       [imgCols-(imgCols/2+wmCols/2)+col] =
                  plane[imgRows-(imgRows/2+wmRows/2)+row]
                    [imgCols-(imgCols/2+wmCols/2)+col]*0.5;
          }//end if
          
          //Place a watermark in the lower left.  Make the
          // transparency value of each pixel to be half of
          // its original value.
          if(color == 0){//Modify alpha plane only.
            plane[imgRows-wmRows-10+row][col+10] = 
                  plane[imgRows-wmRows-10+row][col+10]/2.0;
          }//end if


          //Place a high intensity white watermark in the
          // bottom-right.
          if(color != 0){//Don't modify the alpha plane.
            plane[imgRows-wmRows-10+row]
                           [imgCols-wmCols-10+col] = 255.0;
          }//end if
          
        }//end if on watermark pixel value
      }//end inner loop on wmCols
    }//end outer loop on wmRows

  }//end addWatermark
  //-----------------------------------------------------//
  
  //The purpose of this method is to clamp the incoming
  // value to guarantee that it falls in the range from 0
  // to 255 inclusive.
  double clamp(double data){
    if(data > 255.0){
      return 255.0;
    }else if(data < 0.0){
      return 0.0;
    }else{
      return data;
    }//end else
  }//end clamp
  //-----------------------------------------------------//
}//end class ImgMod36

Listing 13

Copyright 2006, Richard G. Baldwin.  Reproduction in whole or in part in any
form or medium without express written permission from Richard Baldwin is
prohibited.

About the author

Richard Baldwin is a
college professor (at Austin Community College in Austin, TX) and private
consultant whose primary focus is a combination of Java, C#, and XML. In
addition to the many platform and/or language independent benefits of Java and
C# applications, he believes that a combination of Java, C#, and XML will become
the primary driving force in the delivery of structured information on the Web.

Richard has participated in numerous consulting projects and he
frequently provides onsite training at the high-tech companies located in and
around Austin, Texas.  He is the author of Baldwin’s Programming
Tutorials, which have gained a
worldwide following among experienced and aspiring programmers. He has also
published articles in JavaPro magazine.

In addition to his programming expertise, Richard has many years of
practical experience in Digital Signal Processing (DSP).  His first job after he
earned his Bachelor’s degree was doing DSP in the Seismic Research Department of
Texas Instruments.  (TI is still a world leader in DSP.)  In the following
years, he applied his programming and DSP expertise to other interesting areas
including sonar and underwater acoustics.

Richard holds an MSEE degree from Southern Methodist University and has
many years of experience in the application of computer technology to real-world
problems.

Baldwin@DickBaldwin.com

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